The 19th Amendment Reading | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

The 19th Amendment Reading

With special guest, State Representative Melissa Sargent

In 1919, decades of activism by suffragists culminated in Congress’s passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, affirming that the right to vote "shall not be denied... on account of sex." On the centennial anniversary of this historical legislation, we celebrate not only the amendment itself but the ideals it represents—the bravery, tenacity, and ingenuity that our foremothers embodied in their hard-fought battle for equal representation under the law, a lineage of progress stretching from the founders of the Women’s Right’s movement at Seneca Falls to the activists of color whose fight for representation continued decades longer under Jim Crow to contemporary political leaders who “nevertheless persist” in the ongoing struggle for gender equality. In the spirit of this legacy, we’re proud to present a lineup of bold women writers whose work may well help usher in a better future for us all.

Emma Binder fiction writer

Emma Binder is a fiction writer and an MFA candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her work has previously appeared in Pleiades, DIAGRAM, and Sporklet.

Angela Boyd fiction writer

Angela Boyd is from Kansas by way of Washington, D.C. She holds a master in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and is an MFA candidate in fiction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kathryn Harlan fiction writer

Kathryn Harlan is a fiction writer and an MFA Candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work has previously appeared in Strange Horizons.

Young woman with red beaded earrings putting her hand in front of the camera

I.S. Jones is a poet and editor. She is a senior editor for Poetry Northwest where she runs her column, The Legacy Suite, a three-part interview documenting the journey of writers publishing their debut poetry collections. Her debut collection of poems, Bloodmercy, chosen by Nicole Sealey is the 2025 winner of the APR / Honickman First Book Prize.

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